Single-segment Speed run of Super Mario 64 collecting all 120 stars, done on September 14 2006. Available in five versions: normal/low quality DivX, and normal/high/low quality H.264 MPEG-4.

Author's comments:
I think everything that follows here can be aptly summarized in one sentence: This was a helluva lot harder than it looks.

Credits

• Radix: For hosting the run
  
• Nate: For performing various feats of technological wizardry
  
• Jacob "LeCoureur103" Cannon: His 70-star run was the standard that I strove to meet for this project. His strategies strike the ideal balance between speed and consistency, and I adopted most of them for my run.
  
• Curtis Bright: The coin lists on his website were invaluable for planning my 100-coin routes, and many of his videos also had helpful strategies.
  
• Jeremy "spiderman88mil" Taylor: As the author of the previous 120-star run, his work was naturally another reference for my run.
  
• FODA (and anyone else involved with the 120-star-TAS): I cannot deny that the TAS test run and FODA's periodic WIPs were an invaluable resource; I gleaned quite a lot of useful strategies and information them.
  
• And finally, everyone who provided feedback and moral support in the Discussion Topic.
  

After I finished my Banjo Tooie 100% Run back in December, I was contemplating a 120-shine Super Mario Sunshine Run for my next project. But, I decided that I wanted to try something I'd never done before: a single segment run. Since SMS 100% didn't seem like the best choice for this, I decided to go with its predecessor; for my inaugural SS run, I picked a game that I hadn't played in over 9 years. (When I started out, I didn't even know how to long jump!)

This run was a radically different experience for me; unlike my previous works, the focus here was much more on frequent practicing rather than planning. (I planned out most of my 100 coin routes myself, but most of the other strategies were taken from various sources cited above.) And having never done anything quite like this before, I can honestly say that I had no idea what I was getting into. This run, which I had originally planned to finish back in April, wound up taking more than twice as long as I'd anticipated. (My humblest apologies to anyone who was misled by my various monthly forum posts, promising that I was "almost done, really!") It also basically destroyed the analog sticks on all three of my remaining N64 controllers.

Still, I think the final product is worth it. As you'll see, this run, while certainly not perfect, nonetheless completes the game without any deaths or serious errors. It's quite solid overall.

That should cover the basics. I was originally shooting for sub-2:15 here, so sub-2:10 is even better. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with this run, and I hope you are too. Enjoy!

If you have any questions or comments about this run, you may contact me on AIM at XDragornX.

Before I get to the individual star comments, I'll discuss the overall route I took through the castle. In the beginning, I take care of some of Bomb-omb Battlefield (obviously that level has to be first), then Cool Cool Mountain (this level is loaded with run killers, so it's best to get it out of the way early), and then Bowser in the Dark World (another run killer that I want to finish early for the same reason). After that, I tackle the other half of the ground floor: Jolly Roger's Bay, the Princess's Secret Slide, and the Wing Cap. At this point, Whomp's Fortress and the Secret Slide Part II could be completed, but since they're pretty easy, I prefer to complete them much later in the run (right before heading upstairs). So I just finish off Bomb-omb Battlefield and move on.

Here, the route gets a little more interesting. One possible route (and the most obvious) is to get the vanishing cap, then backtrack to the basement, complete the 3 levels there, then Dire Dire Docks + Bowser, then Big Boo's Haunt, and finally return to the ground floor normally. The alternate method (which I picked from the TAS) is to warp back to the lobby after getting the vanishing cap, complete Big Boo's Haunt, then Dire Dire Docks + Bowser, then the basement, and finally warp back up to the ground floor. In addition to eliminating lots of tedious backtracking, this also lets me tackle Dire Dire Docks + Bowser much earlier. (Those areas are also notorious run killers that I want to complete ASAP.)

There's not really anything to say about the route for the upstairs area; that's pretty standard.

You'll notice early on that I seldom collect stars in the order in which the level presents them; this might seem random, but there's usually a method to the madness. Sometimes, it's necessary for strategic purposes; for example, in Snowman's Land, it's necessary to complete "Inside the Igloo" before "Snowman's Big Head" because I activate the cannon in the former star. Barring those restrictions, I also usually like to mix up easy stars and more difficult ones; that is, I like to use the easy stars as recovery periods between more difficult ones. And sometimes I just do weird things like collecting the Big Boo's Haunt stars in "Memento" order (last, first, second-to-last, and so on).

Finally, you'll notice in these comments that I usually have more to say about stars where things go wrong as opposed to one's that go perfectly. I guess that's just the nature of the beast.

Well, here we go.

1. Oh dear God, how I grew to loathe this opening cutscene... 45 seconds of agony for every restart. (And there were many of them!) Anyway, like LeCoureur103, I employ the lakitu skip here. It took a ton of practice, but I was eventually able to achieve decent consistency with it. And since it's the beginning of the run, messing up isn't a very big deal. (Like he says, it's just too cool to pass up.) After that comes the first star in Bomb-omb Battlefield. This glitch here, along with the lakitu skip, killed the majority of my runs. It's pretty difficult, which is why I tackle it first among the Bomb-omb Battlefield stars. A dead run at this point is about 2 minutes lost altogether.
   
2. This follows the strategy in LeCoureur103's run almost exactly (which I believe was a WR Strat for the Koopa the Quick Race). No problems here.
   
3. This is a pretty tricky cannon shot: too low, you bounce off; too high, you sail over the island. Still, "sliding" over the top of the island just looks so damn cool that I can't resist.
   
4. Cool Cool Mountain is pretty tricky. For this first star here, I'm not sure if this crazy wall kick is any faster than going around the normal way; but again, it looks cooler.
   
5. This is another standard strategy. It's best to ground pound right before impact. Of course, if you hit the button too late, you crash. Kinda like this.
   
6. Pretty nifty. I found changing the camera perspective when entering the slide to be quite beneficial.
   
7. The first 100-coin star. Getting it along with penguin race is quite difficult, which is why this is another infamous run killer. As you can see, it got off to a rocky start. First I mistakenly dove onto the slope, and then I missed 3 coins on the way down. I had to grab the extra red coin on the bridge to make up for this. And while I normally have a 1-coin margin-of-error on the slide, I obviously couldn't afford that this time. I still managed to salvage it though.
   
8. One of the nice things about getting the 100 coins on the penguin race is that, since you have to wait for him to get into position afterward, you don't lose any time collecting the star.
   
9. This is a modified version of a strategy from one of Curtis Bright's videos. It went well. Sliding down the slope, over the chasm, and then jumping the tree to grab the coin is pretty damn cool.
   
10. You know, this star gave me trouble way too many times for something so easy. Nothing went wrong this time though.
    
11. The first Bowser World... yet another run killer! There are so many of them... anyway, this is a little rough at a couple of spots, but pretty good overall. I followed LeCoureur103's strategy for most of it. Bowser went down without a hitch.
    
12. I hate swimming. (Not as much as flying, but we'll get to that later.) Nothing to see here, move along...
    
13. I guess it's possible to swim lower and still activate the eel, but it's really not worth the risk.
    
14. One of many stars where the metal cap is proved unnecessary. This jet stream is easier to penetrate than the one in Dire Dire Docks.
    
15. The second 100-coin star. There are only 104 coins in the whole level, so your options of what coins to collect are quite limited. A couple rough spots here (damn swimming!), but not bad.
    
16. Not much to do after grabbing the 100-coin star, just open the chest and get out...
    
17. This is pretty standard. No mistakes here.
    
18. I don't see much room for improvement of this red coin route.
    
19. This is another awesome cannon shot. Sliding along the wall before grabbing the star is sweet.
    
20. The Secret Slide Part I... this is basically LeCoureur103's strategy exactly. Short and simple.
    
21. For the longest time, I wondered if the towers here were solid or not. Eventually I learned the answer the hard way. (They are.) Oh yeah, flying. Oh how I despise the flying in this game. It's so difficult to control... nothing went wrong here though.
    
22. Pretty clean execution on this one. Another nifty cannon shot too.
    
23. Another red coin route from a Curtis Bright Video. Sometimes, an invisible wall is present over the bridge and screws up the wall-kick after collecting the sixth red coin. Thankfully that didn't happen here.
    
24. Collecting the 100 coins in this level is fastest with the Koopa Race, because of the empty time you'd otherwise spend just waiting for him to finish. This was definitely one of my better executions of the star. Sometimes, a coin gets lost near the beginning, usually due to the crazy directions that the coins from the throwing blocks can take. In that case, I substitute a coin from a bomb-omb somewhere along the line. Also, my race time was exactly one minute, which is kinda cool. The last part of this level is a nightmare. There's so much that can go wrong when you're flying around (did I mention I hate flying?) and collecting all these coins. You could potentially gather many more of them from the air, but the flying is just too damn difficult/random. Finally, the obsessive-compulsive in me wanted to collect exactly 100 coins on all 15 courses, but I guess it wasn't meant to be...
    
25. After all that crap is finished, it's just one short cannon's shot to victory.
    
26. The vanishing cap course it home to the second-most-difficult trick of this run. In theory, you triple jump off the cap switch, then wall kick, and finally dive just over the top of the nearby fence, smoothly grabbing the star and escaping the level without viewing the annoying dialogue box. Yep, it's a lot harder than it sounds. It doesn't work very often, and this time was no exception. Worth a try though.
    
27. Ugh, I can't believe I actually messed up the entrance to this level twice in one run (it very rarely happens). This star went well though. Cool wall kick near the beginning.
    
28. No mistakes here. Cool wall kick near the end this time.
    
29. The direction that you face affects what direction Big Boo will fly off in. You can manipulate this in the battle to good effect, as seen here. Not bad.
    
30. Getting 100 coins in this level without stepping outside is pretty nice. Had some bad luck with the eye monster though.
    
31. Even MORE bad luck against Big Boo :(
    
32. This is a nice red coin route, from the TAS Test Run I believe. I especially like the double wall kick off the stairs.
    
33. Same wall kick here as on the first star, expect in the opposite direction. Pity I screwed it up the first time :/. Otherwise this is good.
    
34. Oh hell. The last 30 or so minutes have just been a warmup for the dreaded Star 34. I tackle this godforsaken thing first in Dire Dire Docks, because I just want to get it over with. The beginning of this star is a little rough, with some coins missed the first time. (Did I mention I hate swimming?) However, the real test is the sub. The various jumps and wall kicks involved here ruined many a good run. I pulled them all off quite nicely though, including sliding down the side of the sub and wall kicking to grab the blue coin platform. (That's the single most difficult trick of the run.)
    
35. Nothing much to see here, the hard parts are over. Although it's still quite possible to screw up the long jump back to the sub and slide off.
    
36. Not much to see here either. This star and the next are really just breathers to collect my nerve before Bowser in the Fire Sea.
    
37. This star isn't that hard, but once I got careless and allowed myself to get sucked into the whirlpool by the final chest. This came AFTER good execution of the red/100 coins stars. Most infuriating. Nothing went wrong this time.
    
38. This jet stream here is much more finicky than the one in Jolly Roger Bay. I had a lot of trouble swimming through the rings until I tried switching the camera angle. That also made it easier to swim to the star as well. Nothing went wrong here.
    
39. I... fell off the sub. WTF!? This just goes to show you that anything, no matter mind-numbingly simple, can be royally screwed up in an instant.
    
40. Welcome to Bowser Part II, where anything can go wrong, and usually does. I accidentally fell in the lava near the beginning, which, all things considered, isn't that bad. (I was still able to avoid waiting for the stairs to the final area.) And another smooth Bowser battle, w00t!
    
41. I'd just like to say that this is really harder than it looks. Usually, I just miss the first ring and swim through the next 5 normally. In this case, I missed the second one, which resulted in a much more substantial delay. Bah.
    
42. NOOOOOOOO, I MISSED THE RABBIT!! This star went all right though. Riding the green shell over the sand pillars is always nerve wracking. Basically, I used the M.O. that LeCoureur103 describes in this comments; if the shell breaks on the first pillar, go get a different star; the third or fourth, finish on foot; the second... you're dead. A ruined run after 40-something minutes of playing due to random chance like that is quite irritating.
    
43. I must say, I'm quite proud of this. Triple jumping up the pyramid to hit the bird right as he flies over, and then sliding down the other side to collect the star... damn that's cool. Of course, the tricky part is getting the timing down. That's what the 1-up is for; I found that doing the triple jump after releasing the 1-up and allowing it to bounce a couple times set the bird up perfectly.
    
44. The quickest way to get on top of that big red thing in the middle of the pyramid is to do some crazy triple jump + wall kick thing off the side... definitely not feasible here. My way is nice and consistent, and I still think it looks pretty cool. The fight went fine.
    
45. Well this started out well. The long jump off the fly guy to land on top of the stone structure is nifty. But it's all downhill from there. Missing that coin in the air was pretty stupid, and then getting hit by the fire... ugh. I salvaged it as well as I could.
    
46. This 100 coin route here is by no means the fastest possible... I made a lot of tradeoffs to get something consistent. (In particular, I pass over the 2 fly guys by the pyramid and the coin block in the stone structure, because their coins have a tendency to go everywhere and wind up in quicksand.) Still, I think it's well balanced. Also, this star is the SECOND instant of riding the green shell over the pillars. Usually, if it's going to break and kill me, it happens here, because that's just so much more insulting.
    
47. Have to be careful here not to miss the star and fall to a horrible quicksand death below.
    
48. Two reasons why I saved this for last: first, it prevents a tornado from appearing in the quicksand pool by the stone structure (the one I pass by on the green shell during the 100-coin route); second, it's a nice, easy "backup" star that can be quickly substituted if something goes wrong with big bird, the green shell, etc.
    
49. I had to skip Lava Land briefly here to make up for my earlier MIPS butchery. Thankfully I got him without wasting too much time.
    
50. Nothing went wrong here.
    
51. Pretty close call by the spinning platform. Owned the bully though.
    
52. This is such a nice star. Quick, easy, painless.
    
53. Well... I'm usually pretty good with the bullies. Not this time though. Bastards nearly killed me.
    
54. This went well. I'm not sure whether flying to the stone arch is faster or slower than getting there on foot, but this looks nice regardless.
    
55. This is a good 100-coin route... assuming that you don't lose the shell. Which of course I did. Messed up again right outside the Volcano too :/. At least the inside went well though. I nailed the triple-jump over the lego smasher that seems to give so many other runners trouble :P.
    
56. Just a quick couple of pole jumps here...
    
57. Toad...
    
58. This is from Spezzafer's 16-star-TAS... it's actually not the fastest way available. After you enter the pit area, you can do a wall kick off the wall to your right to grab an upper platform and then long jump to the star; of course, if you screw up the wall kick, you sail right into the pit and die, which is why I opted for this instead.
    
59. Road to the Metal Cap went off without a hitch. I particularly like sliding off the platform with the star. Metal Cap also went well.
    
60. Another 100 coins here. I accidentally skipped over one of the spider creatures near the beginning, and thus had to kill all 4 bats in the maze to make up for it. (Normally I only need one coin from them.) Other than that, this went well. 60 Stars, halfway there!
    
61. Finishing a 100 coin route with both stars right next to each like this is neato.
    
62. A small part of me dies every time I see this. It's just hard to believe that I could've made such a monumentally stupid mistake. Most cringe-worthy moment of the run, right here.
    
63. Nailed the long jump off the moving platform to the very narrow arch with the fourth red coin. Got sloppy near the end, but this is still pretty good.
    
64. Quick and easy.
    
65. I'm aware that this star can be completed without using the metal cap. However, I could never get decent consistency with that ground pound over the switch, so I just opted for the easy method.
    
66. Whoa, close call on the way out. Falling back into HMC would've sucked hard. Caught MIPS perfectly on the second time though.
    
67. That little mess-up on the way to Whomp's Fortress is aggravating. This star here went fine though.
    
68. Pretty nice.
    
69. There's a lot of neat things in this 100 coin route. The triple jump up the slope by the cannon is particularly nice. Collecting the final red coin with 98 in hand (so that both stars appear simultaneously) is also a cool effect.
    
70. Yep.
    
71. Total ownage here.
    
72. You can get this star without the cannon, but that's WAAAAY too random for a speedrun. This strategy is the best bet. Unfortunately I messed up this time, but oh well.
    
73. Another great cannon shot.
    
74. The Princess's Secret Slide Revisited. I bet you'd forgotten about this by now. No? Well, anyway, this is basically the same deal as last time.
    
75. Ugh, I missed the cool little glitch for the stairs to the upper levels. As for this star, well, my execution definitely could've been better.
    
76. This, on the other hand, is awesome. Perfect triple jump at the beginning, perfect ascension of those yellow block stairs, and perfect wall kicking inside the cage. (And that last part is HARD!)
    
77. This is another LeCoureur103 strat. I haven't been pointing them out for a while, but if you've seen the 70-star run you probably recognize most of them anyway.
    
78. Quick and easy, a nice little breather to break up the more difficult stars of this level.
    
79. Screwed up the jump after collecting the Vanishing Cap. Otherwise this is good.
    
80. More 100-coin fun! My strategy here borrows liberally from Curtis Bright's "Secrets in the Shallows and Sky" video, as well as the TAS Test Run. Also, that triple jump up to the area with the Chuckya is very tricky, probably the second most difficult trick in this level (behind the elevator wall kicks).
    
81. Just a quick long jump from the last star to this one. Watching the water rise up around Mario as the end cinema plays is cool.
    
82. I despise this level. That chuckya is a bastard. He got me this time, but I at least managed to avoid him later. Otherwise, this star is short and sweet.
    
83. Basically LeCoureur103's strat, except for the triple jump + wall kick at the beginning. The long jump to the star at the end is probably some unnecessary daredevilism.
    
84. Another quick and simple star.
    
85. Draining the water without actually going to the top of the level is a cool trick. I managed to avoid that damn Chuckya on my way to Wiggler this time. His battle also went quite well. (The direction that he moves at the beginning is random, so it can be difficult to nail him as you drop down. I got him though.)
    
86. As the level with the most coins, this was the hardest to map out a 100-coin route for. My strategy for this level must've gone through 3 or 4 distinct iterations. Anyway, you have to be very careful with the big goombas here; it's quite easy to accidentally jump on one and lose 4 coins. Collecting the red coins inside the mountain, however, is the real challenge. It's just so easy to fall down. Nothing went wrong this time though.
    
87. Mwahahaha.
    
88. I use an unorthodox Koopa the Quick strategy here, from the TAS Test Run. He's going to get to the flag in the same amount of time either way, so you might as well have something interesting to watch.
    
89. Toad!
    
90. This level is a much needed breather after the hellish Wet Dry World and Tiny Huge Island. All of these stars start out the same way (with the long jump onto the wind gust), and three of the four that involve going to the top of the mountain are practically identical. Anyway, this star went well. I've heard horror stories about invisible walls appearing in front of this mushroom, but I've actually never had a problem with them here. They've screwed me over everywhere else in the game, but not here. Strange.
    
91. Complete LeCoureurage. Oh yes, I should also mention here that you can longjump INSIDE the mountain at the beginning of this level, and warp up to the area with the log and fly guy. This isn't that difficult, but I couldn't use it since it violates SDA "Mysterious Warping" rules. Anyway, moving on...
    
92. Some people probably find it strange to take the slide here, but not collect the slide's star. Oh well, speedruns sometimes require seemingly odd strategies. Anyway, this is... awesome. I didn't even miss a single coin on the slide, which is fairly unusual. (The 3 goombas by the start point are used to make up for any lost coins as necessary.) Grabbing the last 4 red coins off the mushrooms is naturally terrifying, but I pulled it off well.
    
93. Indeed.
    
94. No problems here. Nothing much else to say...
    
95. I occasionally have problems with this star, but nothing went wrong this time.
    
96. The monkey eluded me for a second there, but otherwise no problems.
    
97. This star is a nice easy intro for Snowman's Land. Nothing you haven't seen before, I'm sure...
    
98. 100 coins on this level is a real pain. You have to kill a ton of different enemies without losing the shell, and those moneybag bastards spray their coins everywhere when you kill them. Randomness this late in a run is BAD news. Anyway, this went pretty well. I managed to keep the shell the whole time, and didn't get too much bad luck with the different enemies. As far as the inside of the igloo goes, it went well, except for one point. It's possible to activate the cannon, grab all the remaining coins you need, and then grab both stars, without ever needing to "recharge" your vanishing cap. However, the timing on this is very tight, and if you stupidly smash into a wall like I did, you have to waste time grabbing a second cap. Not the end of the world though.
    
99. I think I forgot to complain about the utterly atrocious camera angles inside this igloo. You can't tell what's going on half the time. Anyway, moving on...
    
100. This isn't a particularly difficult cannon shot, but I screw it up quite frequently. Nerves, maybe? Anyway, it's the only missed shot of the run, and not a very big deal, as you can see.
     
101. Pretty slick.
     
102. Even slicker.
     
103. The slickest!
     
104. Oh no, the homestretch. This is where my nerves typically go to pieces. As you can see, I missed the initial entrance to Tick Tock Clock and had to waste time waiting for it to cycle back up to 12. The star itself is pretty sloppy as well. Don't worry, the rest of this level is better.
     
105. This is decent.
     
106. Messed up a jump on the red coin platforms, and opted to collect the red coin star instead. Not that bad either.
     
107. Doing a long jump across the clock to this star (like in LeCoureur103's run) is faster and cooler, but I've just had way too much bad luck with invisible walls in this level to risk it.
     
108. Pretty solid.
     
109. As you can see, I missed several coins near the beginning there, and had to collect 2 extra red coins (7 instead of my normal 5) to make up for it. Otherwise, this is nice. You do have to take into account that I've been playing for about two hours at this point and am a nervous wreck.
     
110. Awesome triple jump up to the thwomp here.
     
111. TOAD!!!
     
112. The sickest level of them all. I opt not to perform the insane triple jump + wall kick at the beginning of these stars, because screwing it up is instant death. The pole method is an acceptable alternative. Otherwise, the various crazy things that LeCoureur103 used in his 70-star run are reproduced here. Unfortunately I screwed up a trick in this star, but fear not; like the last level, this will get much better.
     
113. Sweetness.
     
114. Oh yes, nailed the long jump to the donut blocks. Kick ass.
     
115. Nothing to complain about here. Total ownage.
     
116. The last 100-coin star! And I have to say, it's just freakin beautiful.
     
117. The end is near.
     
118. I'm sorry about leaving this star for last. I know it makes for a rather anticlimactic conclusion to the level. However, it's my backup star just in case (Heaven forbid) I screw up the wall kick in the 100-coin route and miss any blue coins. Thankfully that didn't happen. So, yeah... this is pretty damn boring. Can't be helped though, really.
     
119. More flying. (Did I mention I hate flying?) Anyway, no mistakes here. I even managed to snag that last red coin without grabbing the pole above it. (It's not a big deal if that happens, but it costs a little time.)
     
120. Well, this is it. The last star, and the last chance to SCREW EVERYTHING UP. For the first part of the level, there were a couple rough patches, but all things considered, it's not bad. Not bad at all. And the Bowser fight is just spectacular. Three perfect throws like that is damn rare. I couldn't have asked for a better ending.
     

Well, kudos if you actually read all that. I hope you enjoy(ed) the run!

Individual Files

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Reviewer: marlowe_is_dead - - April 20, 2008
Subject: Virtuouso
Some amazing game playing here, especially given that it's a single run - extremely entertaining to watch.

Reviewer: vulwing - - January 16, 2008
Subject: Nice Run
Amazing job man. You move so fluidly and consistently. You make it look so easy.

Reviewer: captain_compost - - May 6, 2007
Subject: SUPER
Dragorn's the superstar.

Reviewer: laughing_gas - - April 9, 2007
Subject: Superb
Likely the single most amazing run I've ever seen. This record will stand for years to come.

Reviewer: Ak1M - - April 6, 2007
Subject: Super !
Super !

You're the best player ever

Reviewer: Toukie - - March 20, 2007
Subject: great!
I can't do half of what you do, and I can't wall-jump to save my life. Great run, great moves. Worth watching until the end.
Toukie

Reviewer: junak64 - - November 12, 2006
Subject: niesamowite !!
Nie no, byÅem w szoku jak zaczoÅem oglÄdac tego time runa. Już spiderman88mil byÅ niezÅy ale to co Ty zrobiÅeÅ to po prostu szczÄka opada O_O. Nawet nie umie napisaÄ zÅego zdania o tym przejÅciu. Oby wiÄcej takich !!

Credits

Captured by Nate.